5k Walk

I forced the kids (except Shae as she was at a sleepover) to come with us on a 5k walk through the river valley a couple of weeks ago.  There was much groaning and complaining but they were all proud of themselves when they finished the walk (especially Connor since he got no turns in the stroller!)

The kids got treats for completing the walk: Ring pops.

Devonian Gardens

Another sign of spring is the opening of the U of A Devonian Gardens.  The highlight here, of course, is the butterfly house.  Connor was lucky enough to have a butterfly hang out on his hand for a few minutes.

Springtime at Muskrat Pond

One of the sure signs of spring around here is when the weather is warm enough for us to head over to Muskrat Pond for a family walk.  One time, we happened to go when the pond was full of frogs and Connor was sad we hadn't brought nets.  So we went back the next week with plenty of nets but sadly, the frogs were gone.  They still had fun dredging up all kinds of interesting things including water spiders and snails.

Easter 2013

April 2013

Jess celebrated his 39th birthday in March - can't believe he's almost 40!!  Better him than me!

In April, my mom agreed to watch the kids so that Jess and I could try out our new skis at Marmot Basin in Jasper.

Other than having to drive home through a late winter storm, the trip was fantastic, something we definitely want to do again.  Jasper is so very beautiful.

This was our first time skiing on a real mountain and as you can see by this little video clip Jess took of me, we are definitely green run only skiiers.  We're both big fans of the snowplough technique of skiing!

Our neighbourhood playground was FINALLY torn down and replaced last fall but winter came too soon for us to have a chance to play on it.  Now that the snow is almost gone, Hudson requested that we go play on the new playground for Family Home Evening last night.  It was nice to see even Shae having fun exploring all the new equipment.

Jess brought his new boomerang to the park for everyone to try.  We all threw it as hard as we could but none of us could get it to swing around back to us.